Simply
perfect: Rochester caps unbeaten season
with D-1 state title

BY DAN
STICKRADT

ECCENTRIC STAFF WRITER

March 10, 2009

There are certain things in life that go hand-in-hand.

Rochester High’s competitive
cheer team is synonymous with winning championships, perhaps more so than a any other team in state history.

There’s not enough room in
the Falcons’ trophy case at school accommodate all of those won over
the past 25-plus years.

Rochester added another one to the showcase
Saturday in Grand Rapids, winning the MHSAA Division 1
state tile at the DeltaPlex.

The win capped off an unbeaten
season by the Falcons, ranked No. 1 in the coaches
poll all season. It also marked the school’s 12th MHSAA state title
since the inception of the tournament in 1994 and the school’s 17th
overall dating back to the old MCCA tournaments.

Rochester has finished no lower than third
since 1989, when the Falcons claimed their first state title in the MCAA
Class A tournament.

“It’s amazing.
We’ve won a lot of state championships over the years, but very few
where we finished the year undefeated,” said veteran Rochester coach Susan Wood, who counts 12
seniors on her roster of 30 athletes. “We scored over 800 points
several times this season. This was our second highest total of the year. But
it’s the most important.”

Rochester collected a three-round team
score of 811.2480, the highest point total of the three divisions on the day.
Rochester Stoney Creek, the only other Eccentric-area school to advance to
the finals, was sixth (787.3672).

Arch-rival Grandville, the
defending state champs, was second with 806.0352 points. Grandville defeated Rochester by just over 2.5 points at last
season’s state final.

East Kentwood was third (802.6544), Sterling
Heights Stevenson fourth (797.2376), Southgate Anderson fifth (788.7856).

Following Stoney Creek was Holland West Ottawa in
seventh (784.6304) and Lake Orion (783.6872) in eighth. Rochester, Stoney Creek and Lake Orion all compete in the OAA Red
Division.

“I’m proud of our
girls,” praised Wood. “We were so close last season and they came
back this year and worked hard for this. They didn’t think about last
year, they were focused on this year. I think there might have been some
pressure, being No. 1 all year and being undefeated going into the finals,
but we performed extremely well.

“(The sport) has changed a
lot over the years. When the (MHSAA) took over, there were only a few teams
that could win it. Now, just about every team has a shot. There is less than
30 points between first and eighth. Years ago, there was a bigger distance
between the teams at (the state final).”

Rochester posted the highest scores in each
of the three rounds, collecting 233.8 points in Round I, 254.0480 in the
second round and capping off the title with 323.4 points in the stunt round,
the final round of the day.

Stoney Creek posted scores of 224.8, 250.1672
and 312.4. The second round effort was fifth while the first and third round
scored were sixth for the Cougars.